Shikhar Dhawan could not lead his team to victory in the eleventh match of the Indian Premier League 2024 (IPL 2024) against the Nicholas Pooran-led Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow on Saturday, March 30.
Lucknow Super Giants won the toss and decided to try their hand with the bat in the match. The Punjab Kings bowlers put pressure on them as KL Rahul and Devdutt Padikkal were dismissed inside the powerplay for low scores.
However, Quinton de Kock held his own very well and although he was not fast, he made a half-century. The next two major contributions came from the bat of Nicholas Pooran and Krunal Pandya.
Both players played aggressive cricket and played a key role in LSG scoring 199/8 on the board. Chasing the target, Shikhar Dhawan (70) and Jonny Bairstow (42) showed a batting masterclass and helped Punjab Kings surpass the 100-run mark in 11 overs.
At one point, PBKS looked set to win but they failed to cross the finish line and were restricted to 178/5. The reason Punjab Kings lost from the winning position was LSG debutant Mayank Yadav who consistently bowled over 150 km/h and bagged 3 wickets to help his team win by 21 runs.
They played well, shame Livi (Livingstone) got injured – Shikhar Dhawan
At the post-match presentation ceremony, Punjab Kings captain Shikhar Dhawan expressed his disappointment over Liam Livingstone’s injury in the match. Shikhar Dhawan said:
“They played well, it’s a shame that Livi (Livingstone) was injured, that hurt us, she would have come at 4.”
Shikhar Dhawan further praised LSG pacer Mayank Yadav and said the debutant took him by surprise. The PBKS captain revealed that he told Jonny Bairstow and Jitesh Sharma to use Mayank Yadav’s pace against him but they failed. He said:
“We started well, but Mayank played well with his pace. It was nice to face him, I was surprised by his pace, but I wanted to use it against him, but he bowled bouncers and yorkers well.
“I was quite conscious, I asked the batsmen to use the short side and use their pace, but he lunged towards his body (after Bairstow’s dismissal) and got him out, I said the same to Jitesh too.”
Shikhar Dhawan added that they need to analyze their losses and come up with better plans for the next match. He also blamed dropped catches for the Punjab Kings’ loss. Shikhar Dhawan stated:
“But Mohsin bowled very well, kept good length and smothered us. We will have to analyze these defeats, the fall did cost us some momentum. That is something we will have to improve from now on. forward.”
After starting with a win in the Indian Premier League 2024, the Punjab Kings have suffered back-to-back defeats. Although they have a good team on paper, Shikhar Dhawan & Co. would be eager to come up with better plans in the upcoming matches to avoid another bottom-half finish.